Paul Manafort, Trump, Opioids: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

1. The White House has stripped the security clearance of John Brennan, above, the former C.I.A. chief and a vocal critic of President Trump. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, indicated that the reason was that he is among a group of former officials who have “transitioned into highly partisan” people.

The Obama administration punished Mr. Orban for his creeping authoritarianism and crackdown on civil society. But Mr. Trump has thawed the relationship, and his administration is engaging with Hungary and nearby Poland.

The White House’s embrace of Mr. Orban has many worried: Some European diplomats and analysts see it as part of a move to divide the European Union.

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CreditRick Bowmer/Associated Press

3. A bleak record: Drug overdoses killed about 72,000 Americans in 2017, according to C.D.C. estimates.

That’s about a 10 percent rise. Strong synthetic drugs like fentanyl may be partly to blame, along with the growing number of Americans who use opioids.

But there’s some room for optimism. The monthly C.D.C. numbers suggest that deaths might have begun leveling off by the end of the year.

And nationwide, the Democratic Party is trying out a new tactic: letting candidates determine their own messages.

It’s a risky strategy, essentially putting off answering one of the most immediate questions facing the party after its losses in 2016: What does it stand for?

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CreditGabriella Angotti-Jones/The New York Times

5. “Every single person that has died, I do it for them.”

The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., know exactly what they are standing for. For months, they have traveled across the country to rally for stricter gun control laws.

The portable devices are designed to help foil attacks in transit hubs, like the faulty pipe bomb in New York’s Times Square and Port Authority subway stations last year.

New York is testing out the technology this week, too.

“We’re looking specifically for weapons that have the ability to cause a mass casualty event,” a Los Angeles official said.

The scanners will not slow down riders or create the snaking, slow lines you find at airports, officials say. The scanners are expected to be rolled out in Los Angeles later this year.

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CreditMike Blake/Reuters

7. The Tesla fallout continues.

On the heels of Elon Musk’s tweet last week saying that he was considering taking the company private, the S.E.C. has served Tesla with a subpoena, according to someone with knowledge of the investigation.

The claim, which several people said was more of a flip remark from the chief executive, has created headaches for the company’s board, which is scrambling to rein in its erratic leader.

It has become clear since then that neither Mr. Musk nor Tesla had actually lined up the necessary financing for the move, aside from having preliminary conversations with some investors.

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CreditSayed Mustafa/EPA, via Shutterstock

8. A bloody day in Afghanistan.

Dozens were killed in the north after Taliban insurgents overran an Afghan Army base and a police checkpoint, killing at least 39 soldiers and police officers.

Separately, in Kabul, a suicide bomber carried out an attack inside a classroom, leaving at least 48 dead.

The attacks cap a tense period, which began on Friday with a Taliban assault on Ghazni City, in the east. President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban control of that area had been contained, but residents said the fighting continued. Here’s what’s at stake.

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CreditBeth Coller for The New York Times

9. When it comes to dating, women want brains. Men care less about that.

That’s just one takeaway from a new study about the desirability of men and women who use online dating apps. Researchers determined that while men’s sexual desirability peaks at age 50, women’s starts high at 18 — and falls from there.

The study is not an anomaly. It echoed a conclusion that OkCupid reached after releasing some of its data: “The male fixation on youth distorts the dating pool.”

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CreditRandy Holmes/ABC

10. Finally, the late-night hosts focused on the new memoir from Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former White House aide — and President Trump’s furor over the book.

“Yeah, Trump called Omarosa a dog,” Jimmy Fallon said. “Then he rolled over for Putin, barked at his staff and ate a bunch of paper.”

And Jimmy Kimmel put it bluntly: “Only Donald Trump would defend himself from being racist by saying something sexist.”

Have a great evening.

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